- Title:
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Shanghai Tango
- Written by:
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Jin Xing
- Read by:
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Keith Brockett
- Format:
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Unabridged CD Audio Book
- Number of CDs:
-
6
- Duration:
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7 hours
- Published:
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June 01 2008
- Available Date:
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June 01 2008
- Age Category:
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Adult
- ISBN:
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9781742014913
- Genres:
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Non-fiction; Asian; Memoirs; Performing Arts; Sex & Sexuality
- Publisher:
-
Bolinda audio
Qty
Format
Price
Bolinda price
International bestseller
"An extraordinary story … gender surgery that cuts to the quick of China's double standards."
The Independent
"Shanghai Tango is a breathtaking story... Everyone in the West should know about Jin Xing."
Xiaolu Guo, author of A Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers
A deeply personal and inspiring account of growing up in a body that feels alien and of braving pioneering surgery in communist China.
At the age of nine, Jin Xing entered a military academy. He knew that he had been born to dance and, in Mao's China, it was the army that provided the best training. His exceptional talent was soon recognised; by the time he was eighteen, he was regarded as the best principal dancer in China. He won a scholarship to study in the United States where he discovered a new world of contemporary dance, and made both a new identity and a decision that was to change his life - and would shake the whole of China: Jin Xing underwent a sex-change. He became a woman - and then a mother and, later, a wife.
The incredible adventure of this solider with a young girl's heart was suppressed by Chinese authorities for years, but now Jin Xing can finally tell her story. From the regimented world of the Red Army, to Europe's most elegant boulevards; from the small Manchurian village of her birth, to the dizzying excess of New York; Jin Xing's story has all the drama and energy of a classic ballet - and a happy ending.
"A courageous memoir, Shanghai Tango is the story of prima ballerina Jin Xing's journey to international fame via the difficult route of gender transformation. One of the most promising stars of the Shanghai Ballet, Xing chose to confront communist China with her decision to become a woman. Keith Brockett tackles the sensitive role of a man becoming a woman with dramatic grace. His delivery bridges the gap between male and female, setting the perfect androgynous tone throughout. Brockett skillfully captures Xing's anguish, pain, pride, and eventual triumph as her transformation evolves. His compelling account is sweetened by his sharply accurate Chinese language pronunciations."
AudioFile Magazine
"Shanghai Tango is a fascinating insight into the changes in China over the past 40 years through its relationship with one extraordinary person."
The Spectator
"This memoir stands out [and is] never less than gripping."
The First Post